No headlights

[lloydie71]

Hello,

Had a funny plasticy burning smell from the dash when driving home one night. I stopped, switched off and when i started again, no head lights!....but side lights still work and i can't find anything else effected. Checked the fuse box (old style with ceramic fuses) and saw a white residue around number 3. Looked further and the plastic insulating cover from the fat red wire going into the back of 3 fell off, the wire showing obvious signs of burning.
Checked the Brick yard link on wiki which says fuses should be 8amp.......i found 16's in 3 (LH dip),4 (RH dip),and 6 (RH main). I'm no electrician but i'm guessing the higher rating fuses have allowed too much current to be drawn and so burnt the wiring.

Is it likely to have caused damage elsewhere?

Any suggestions on how to sort this would be much appreciated.

thanks.

[bigherb]

The fuses wouldn't have caused a problem until there is a fault. Why did it have 16A fuses? Has someone put in 100w headlamp bulbs which will overload the wiring or you a have a short in the wiring.

[lloydie71]

Thanks bigherb, I'll check the bulbs, I only bought the van last year and have done nothing to her other than enjoy
Do you know where the live feed comes from (I guess the thick red wire into the back of the fuse box is the feed) so i can check for other damage?
cheers.

[bigherb]

Do you know where the live feed comes from (I guess the thick red wire into the back of the fuse box is the feed)
cheers.

Thats the one

[Oldiebut goodie]

Burning plastic smell says headlight switch kaput to me.

[lloydie71]

Thanks guys,

yep, you were right bigherb, 100W bulbs.

The feed wire is burnt adjacent to the spade connector that plugs onto the fuse box. Do you think cutting out the burnt and re-connecting will do the job?
Any idea where the feed is taken from, I'm thinking to find the other end and check continuity in case it's burnt out elsewhere?
I've taken the dash off and there's no burnt smell from the switch so hopefully that's OK.
cheers.

[bigherb]

The headlight feed comes from the ignition switch black/yellow wire to the light switch, then white/black to the dip switch and then yellow to the low beam fuses and white to the high beam fuses.
It could have damaged one or more of the three switches you will have to check all the way through.

[lloydie71]

OK, thanks very much, I'll carry on fiddling.
cheers.

[lloydie71]

I HAVE LIGHTS!!.......just not how they should be

Cut out the burnt thick red/red-yellow wires going into the back of the fuse box, rejoined and new spade connector. plugged it back on, switched on the ignition, nothing, no dash lights, all electrics dead......worse than before, at least it was running then. realised i was a t**t and plugged it back onto the correct terminal!! Now i have main headlights when i put on side lights....and when i put the main lights on......no side lights at all....... dipped beam puts on the full beam warning light......which then goes off when i put full beam on???
I've stripped and cleaned the dashboard side light/headlight toggle switch which appears to be ok, but i'm thinking of swapping this anyway to rule it out as there were signs of scorching.
I'm sure progress has been made......but not there yet.

Does any of this sound familiar?

[LeeME3]

Check the earth lines as well,all the way back to the crown.

[lloydie71]

All sorted now. Found another burnt out connection into the back of the main switch.
Thanks very much for all the help and suggestions.
cheers,
Lloyd.

[California Dreamin]

As it's not been mentioned....these lights seriously benefit from fitting relays.
Using the original old tired wiring and associated switch gear, will mean that there will be a substantial voltage drop at the headlamp bulbs. Fitting relays not only takes away heavy current from those ageing wiring, connections and switches but ensures maximum voltage to the bulbs improving lighting by up to 30%.
Fitting some super bright Osram NightBreaker Plus bulbs will also add brightness without using more power. Those that have done the mod (including myself) can't stress enough how much of an improvement it makes.

Martin